Define Reality
by Wydra-and-MashumelloKage
Summary: Tori started off normal but after going through Animorphs and Eragon, books she once read as fiction, she now is trying to get home. Regrettably instead of finding herself home after changing dimensions yet again, she wakes up animated. "What the heck?"
1. Ichione

NaruSan-EraNi-AniIchi

Written by: Wydra

and Beta by: MashumelloKage

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**Legend:**

_My thoughts,_

_^Other peoples thoughts^_

_**~Mindspeaking to my dragon~**_

_**^my dragon speaking to me^**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Inheritance or Animorphs or anything related or concerning them, I do own Tori and Istalri

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Chapter Ichi(one):

I stand panting, blood dripping from the numerous wounds inflicted by kunai my three opponents have been throwing at me. Frantically I search my wearied head for some sort of protection spell I can use against these ninja. _I've been in this stupid dimension, for what 3 hours, and already I get attacked! _I think to myself furiously, not only outnumbered but also out-maneuvered because I'm not used to the quick antics of ninjas. Forced to use magic I gained from the last dimension I was in, I shout"Skolir eka fra knifar!" and feel my energy drain to execute the spell. _Hopefully 'Shield me from knives." will give me enough time to come up with a plan. What?_

Nothing happens and I panic as the leader of my three attackers advances on me. _My magic isn't working, I've been cut to ribbons and I'm exhausted from trying to fight these idiots! _I raise my sword, my torn, weary muscle shaking with the effort of lifting the heavy blade. The man slashes at me with his kunai and I barley manage to parry the blow but he steps back and brings his kunai back again faster than I can keep up. Holding the blade to my throat he smiles with the prospect of killing me. I close my eyes utterly giving up when the sound of metal on metal in front of my face makes me flinch back and stare in astonishment as the kunai the assailant was just holding is knocked out of his hand by a shurikin. The eyes of my attacker widen staring at someone behind me before he turns and flees through the trees. I sway unsteadily from blood loss and my vision begins to fade, I fall to the ground watching as two figures come from behind me and pursue the fleeing forms of my attackers. "Dono yō ni kanjite iru? Tentiki." a vaguely familiar female voice asks from behind me. _I hope that means 'We're here to help you'_ I think as I lose consciousness.

-Flashback- 3 hours earlier

***BOOM!***

A huge implosion sends a gigantic shock wave through the area, leaving a house-size crater and a whole lot of flattened trees in it's wake. In the center of this crater I lay with my eyes open but unseeing as the after affects of using magic to traverse dimensions racks my body with intense pain. After a while the pain starts to subside and I blink looking around for the first time since arriving. Carefully sitting up I wince in pain as my entire body protests at being moved so soon. I can just see the tops of some odd looking trees above the craters lip. Standing I freeze when I look down to see my hand a funny shape and colour. "Holy crow!" I exclaim, "I've been freaking animated!"

"Great. Greatgreatgreatgreat, GREAT!" I scowl angrily feeling a vein pulse on my forehead. "How could this happen, I was supposed to back to my original dimension. Not end up in some stupid cartoon!" I mutter to no one in particular as a stalk out of the crater and into the surrounding forest. Reaching behind me I place my hand on a warm smooth stone in my backpack and reach my mind out, _**~Guess wha-at?~**_ I call out to my bond-mate in a false, cheerful, mind-speak voice. **^You're...****not**** home now?^** my dragon guesses hesitantly. _**~No! Actually, I'm probably worse off then when I left you back in the Eragon reality. I am now in what looks like something called an anime. Basically I've been drawn and all my surroundings are illustrated! I"M IN A CARTOON!~**_

_** ...**_

**^Umm... sorry?^** Istalri says knowing that for all of my outbursts of anger I'm just hiding how much it hurt to be lost... again. I feel her deductions about my current mental condition in my head and have to give her a crooked smile. _**~You know, the plus side of having so much crazy stuff happen to me is that no-one could really blame me if I started acting like a completely berserk nutcase. I could just blame my behavior on my extremely tragic, disturbing and ultimately confusing past. Besides , at least everything is coloured and in 3-D here. If this were some black and white depthless manga, do you realize how boring it would be, let alone the complications of not being able to breathe and all.~ **_Ista just sighs at my forced mood swing, _**^Why don't you concentrate your efforts on figuring out where exactly you are instead of marveling at the wonders of being a cartoon character.^ **_she reproves me sending an image of her rolling her eyes across our mental link. I smile inwardly and take her advice removing my hand from her Eldunarí(the warm white stone aka 'heart of hearts') immediately severing our bond. I start at the abruptness of the disconnection of our minds. Back in Alagaësia in the Eragon reality, I was almost always with my white dragon. Now, however it seemed that to even talk to her I needed to use her Eldunari. These thoughts reminded me of where I was... and that it wasn't home.

Sinking back into a depressed state I decide to brighten myself up and get a better lay of the land by flying for a bit. Concentrating on the image of an Osprey(type of bird) I feel feathers ripple beneath my skin, they become unbearably itchy just before breaking the surface. Not worrying how the morphing looks with no one around I relax into it and my body changes itself strangely. First I am a feathered human with a weird beak on a other-wise normal face, then I shrink and when I am the right size for the large bird of prey, wings sprout and the rest of the change is relatively "normal". With a great leap I take to the air struggling to lift my heavy pack with Istalri's Eldunarí and my supplies safely inside. Luckily an updraft wafts from through the trees and I am able to clear the leaves up into the open sky on a thermal. Soaring high in the air I spot a large cliff face a few miles off and what appears to be a town at it's base. Even with my heightened bird's eyes I can make out very little detail but I can see a path meandering through the trees below me heading in the direction of the town. I fly in that direction for a while, following the path below and looking for any people I could get information from.

Soon I spot three people on the path below. Coasting down I land in the bushes beside the path out of sight and demorph back into human form. Stepping onto the path ahead of them I hold up my hand in greeting, "Hi," I say, "Would you mind telling me where this path leads to? I think I'm a bit lost." I ask in a polite voice with a sugar sweet smile. The men seem startled at first but the leader recovers quickly, "Anata wa daredesu ka?" he asks in a foreign language. "Um..." I hesitate trying to read their minds but getting nothing but a jumble of strange words. The man smiles uncomfortably at my hesitation, it is only now that I notice their tattered and torn clothes and the scars on their faces. I probably should have taken a better look at them before asking for directions, these guys looked creepy!

I take a step back and immediately I find that the other two men have blocked my way and are now also smiling. I begin to feel nervous, not that I wasn't confidant I could beat these guys pretty easily, with one word I could break all their necks and they wouldn't know what hit them, unfortunately I was worried about was how my abilities would knowing how the rules of magic worked here I could end up hurting myself in casting such spell, plus I really detested hurting people. Deciding to first try and get away I morph my leg muscles into the powerful muscles of a cougar and leap ten feet into the air to a branch high up in a tree. I jump to another branch in front of me but the men are fast... _really_ fast. Before I knew what hit me three kunai are imbedded in my legs and I am pushed out of the tree and onto the ground.

My battle reflexes kick in and I twist landing on my feet and drawing my sword, Wydra. More kunai fly at me and I pivot my sword to block as many as I can, but my movements are too slow to avoid the barrage completely and a few slip past my guard and cut my arms to ribbons, blood pouring onto the ground. The leader laughs at my futile efforts to block and avoid the stream of weapons thrown at me. Within a minute of trying to fend off my attackers I am covered in cuts and bleeding profusely. The leader holds up his hand to stop the attack and tilts his head with a smile, thinking he has the advantage, "Yoi. Shikashi, jū-funde wa nai." he says approaching kunai poised for a fatal blow. _Freak! I guess I'm going to have to resort to magic._

_-_End flashback-

_Where am I now?_ I ask myself waking up to a white ceiling overhead...

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~AN(Authors Notes):Ok thank you for reading my first fanfic chapter ever.

BTW I hope to eventually do two prequels, the first installment of (still need a name! .) adventures in Animorphs and the second installment in Eragon. Thus the Ancient language spells, dragon and such, and morphing from Animorphs. Yes it is a weird mix but they are all series I enjoy, I started with the third installment because I felt like it and it is more fun to write because the character has more abilities.

My Pen-name is Wydra(Fate in Ancient) and my Beta's pen-name is MashumelloKage(Marshmellow Kage -.-'(BN:-Kage from Naruto! } ^.^))

And yes the character learns Japanese soon, so conversations, although technically still in Japanese, will be translated into English. ;)

BN(Beta notes):_This chapter doesn't totally suck **and** has a cliffy! (Although I think she should have gone farther...) It still sucks a wee bit...^.^U soooo not my fault! Also, no blaming and no flaming! Hey! I rhymed! Flames are used to roast my subjects to a sweet gooey mess... (FYI: I'm the MashumelloKage of the Hidden Village of all things Sweet and Mushy! Fear my mini multi-coloured, fruit-flavored, minions of gluten! I'm waaaay off topic... so yeah, constructive criticism and lov'its only!  
_


	2. Nitwo

NaruSan-EraNi-AniIchi

Written by: Wydra

and Beta by: MashumelloKage

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Authors notes: Okay well here is the next chapter, to those who read the first chapter a while ago I have changed a few things. Mainly the name of the OC is Tori and her dragon's name is Istalri(Ista for short, Istalri means 'flame') instead of Tesserna(Tess).

**Legend:**

_My thoughts,_

_^Other peoples thoughts^_

_**~Mindspeaking to Istalri(Tori's dragon)~**_

_**^Istalri(Tori's dragon) speaking to me^**_

underlining is only emphasis

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Inheritance or Animorphs or anything related or concerning them, I do own Tori and Istalri.

* * *

Chapter Ni(two):

I open my eyes and immediately wished I hadn't, bright sunlight reflects off of the white walls and blanched curtains that surround the hospital gurney I lay on. Squinting, I shade my eyes with an open hand, wincing as my cuts and scrapes protest at the movement. I look down to see myself dressed in a loose white top and baggy drawstring pants. Most of me is wrapped in the gauzy white of bandages, my left arm throbs painfully and I notice the pristine white cloth covering the length of my arm to my shoulder is stained red where my blood has leaked through. The crimson fabric is cold to touch so I assume the wound is no longer raw and open, although it still hurts like heck. Looking again to my surroundings I take it that my small alcove is curtained off from what must be a larger room.

Abruptly I realize my my pack isn't anywhere visible, and neither is Istalri's Eluduri. Panic seizes me, if anything happens to her 'heart of hearts' Ista could be painfully injured or even die!

Frantically I scan the bed and then get up and open the drawer on the side table. Empty. Under the bed is a cardboard box, reaching under I pull it out and open it letting out a sigh of relief when I see my pack resting safely inside. Slipping my hand under the leather flap I feel the reassuring heat radiating off of Istalri's Elunduri and I am aware of her far off thoughts and dreams in my mind. _It must still be night in Alagaësia._ I think to myself, closing my eyes I join in her dream, sending my consciousness across our link into her mind.

We are flying miles above the vast emerald green forest of Du Weldenvarden, the night is warm and droplets of dew form on my skin only to be wicked away by soft gusts of wind from Istalri's wings. A full moon casts it's ethereal light down on us and stars sparkle and dance to their own soundless tune. I sigh and stretch out on Ista's back and she turns her head slightly to stares at me with her large alabaster eye. All the colours in the spectrum shimmer across her iris as the moon reflects it's face in her eye. She blinks and lets out a small burst of white hot flames in reprovable before turning to forward again. _**^You shouldn't leave your body like that, you know.^**_ She reprimands me, I frown back at her, _**~Your welcome for being concerned about you.~ **_I reply.

She points her head downward and lazily glides toward the forest below.

_**^It's your own fault you were worried, you the one who put me in harms way.^**_

_** ~I..I didn't mean to.~ **_I say guilty and subdued. Ista flares her wings as we near the tree tops and leaves swirl around us as she lands amongst the giant trees. Letting out a deep sigh she folds her wings and begins walking between the trees, _**^Some woman went through your things, I was careful to stay quiet and masked my presence. She didn't seem to notice me... and I don't blame you for endangering me, just don't pick fights you can't win.^ **_She adds with a touch of humor. I roll my eyes at her as I begin to pull myself back toward my body, _** ~How about I avoid picking fights overall, and anyway I wasn't trying to start a fight. I just wanted directions.~ **_

I blink and I am back in the hospital room still kneeling on the floor, I sense Istarli waking up to the sun in her face as I remove my hand from her Eluduri and rummage through the rest of my pack to take inventory of all my stuff. Whomever went through my things didn't take much, just a few opals I use to store emergency energy, if I hadn't depleted them before I got into that fight with those ninja I probably would have had a much better chance at beating them.

I stretch and think about continuing to explore the room, stashing the pack with Istalri's Elunduri under my pillow. Peeking around the curtain I was surprised to see a young girl with long brown hair sitting in a bed next to mine reading a book with her back to me. I walk over to her bed noisily so as not to startle her, "Hi!" I say smiling my hand up in a little wave. The girl turns slowly to gaze at me with strangely familiar green-blue eyes. She stares at me for a few moments a slight frown on her face, "Oh...Um, Sorry. Japanese." I say reading her confused thoughts.

I try again, "Ohayo gozaimasu." "Ohayo gozaimasu." she replies smiling politely. "Anata no namae wa nanidesu ka?" she asks. "Uh sorry...gomen. I don't understand." I say apologetically. She frowns again, then nods and turns back to her book. Her thoughts, although foreign to me seem suspicious, almost like she was trying to analyze my movements. A peculiar stream of energy radiates from her body, very similar to a spell being held for an extended period of time. I eye her warily then turn my attention to the rest of the room. Two more beds line the opposite wall, one is empty and the other is concealed by a curtain drawn for privacy. Expanding my mind I feel someone there, a boy probably around the same age as the girl. Other than that the room is empty but for a door on the other end of the room.

I give the girl another look and she gives no outward sign of acknowledging me. Her mind, on the other hand watches my every move making me nervous and on edge. Looking at the door I decide to see what happens when I try and opening it. Walking down the center of the room I wait at the door but nothing happens. The girl still watches me but gives no indication of taking action. The boy behind the curtain is also aware of my movements but doesn't move from behind the curtain. Trying the door I find it unlocked and slowly open the door. Before I can get the door halfway open I am knocked backward by a yelling streak of blond and orange.

I immediately react, all my senses on full tilt. Automatically my mind starts to work on his trying to seize control. I half-morph into a cougar, only gaining lithe muscles and razor sharp claws that I use to slash at the kids face drawing blood and throwing him backward. As I get quickly to my feet I hear the girls voice behind me yelling and I sense the boy on the other bed coming toward the fight. The blond kid jumps to his feet and lunges at me again trying to pin me to the floor, I barley manage to dodge him when another kid grabs me from behind twisting my arm painfully behind me. Dropping to my knee I turn and roll my body hitting my assailant in the head with my foot. Rolling away I jump up with my back to the wall in a crouch with my clawed hands poised in front of me to ready to ward off another attack. I stare in surprise to see the girl holding the blond haired boy to the floor yelling at him and a boy with black hair holding another identical blond haired kid. It takes me a second or two before it hits me but I roll my eyes and relax as I recognize the kids in front of me.

_Of all animes I get stuck in Naruto... _*sigh* The black haired kid, or Sasuke, hits the kage-bunshin of Naruto causing him to disappear in a wisp of smoke. The girl, whom I assume to be Sakura using henge, hits the real Naruto over the side of the head and with a few more loud words gets up and stares daggers at him as he regains his feet. Naruto stands rubbing his head where Sakura hit him talking rapidly in Japanese, I make out that he thought I was trying to escape and was taking actions to prevent that. At this point Sakura cuts him off saying everything was fine and that he could've just followed me to gain more intel. Scanning all of their collective thoughts I put the pieces together and guess they were supposed to guard me in case I should escape and also try to get information out of me, which didn't work because they didn't know I spoke a different language.

Suddenly two people appear in a poof of smoke, Sakura and Naruto immediately shut up and all four of us look to the two adults that just apeared. I close my eyes briefly to try and come to terms with the strange people I keep recognizing. Anko eyes the scratches I inflicted on Naruto's face with a disturbing intensity. "Anko..." The other shinobi redirects her attention onto me, while pulling out an orange book from a pouch on his hip.

"How ya feel'n tentiki?" Anko sneers cocking an eyebrow at my battered body. "I've been better." I say, surprised she speaks English. Even some of her thoughts are translated in her head, _^This kids accent is pretty strange, along with her sword. Could she be from the Samurai nation?^ _Anko nods to Kakashi and he and Team Seven disapear, leaving Anko and me in the hospital room. "Lets start with with your name and where you're from." _Should have seen this one coming._ "I am from the...Er..."_ Canada is northern, our national symbols are maple leafs, beavers, Canadian Geese, moose and hockey. Hockey won't make sense here, the Hidden Beaver Village? Hmmm, don't really want to be portrayed by some bucked tooth rodent used to make hats. _"Kaede village in the Land of Geese, my name is Tori." _Maple village and Land of Geese... Well I wouldn't say the name is any worse than the Land of Tea. _

"I've never heard of it." She says narrowing her eyes. I keep a steady eye contact and try to conceal my nervousness convincing myself that I'm telling the truth. "It is really far to the north." I add helpfully. I scan Anko's mind, carefully concealing my presence. She doesn't buy it so I try nudging her thoughts toward believing me. Her eyes soften slightly as she begins to come around.

Suddenly her eyes flash dangerously and her memories disappear. Before I can so much as blink her demeanor has changed drastically, I can still make out what she's thinking but only barely, she must've put up a metal block. I glimpse a kunai coming as her thoughts change razor fast to attack mode. Throwing my already sore and injured arms in front of me, I scarcely have time to morph the skin and muscles of my arms into a cougars forearms in time for the impending strike.

I scream as the blade slices almost clean through both my arms. I dive past Anko using the wall at my back for extra leverage. As I hit the ground and roll toward my bed and the open window beyond, I morph my arms back to human. The battered flesh resuming it's shape and the flow of blood abruptly stops as my human arms replace the torn forearms of the cougar.

I jump to my feet as I reach the bed only to find Anko already in front of me three shurkins in hand. She throws them point blank and I'm not nearly nimble enough to avoid them, one grazes my head and cuts my ear and the other two catch my arms, one opening up the almost healed gash on my upper arm. Letting out a gasp of pain I stumble backward frantically thinking of how to get out of this mess. Anko obviously sees the panicked expression of my face because she relaxes slightly, crouching on top of my bed at my eye level. "If you really thought you could somehow mess with my mind, gaki. Then you've got another thought coming. I know where you're from but they obviously don't tell you that Kohona's ninjas are taught to resist mind -meddling. Try it again and I won't miss your jugular a second time."

I can still sense her thoughts, despite what she said about Konohas resistance to 'mind-meddleing'. _^If she can use mind-control jutsu she is much more dangerous than we first anticipated. Although it didn't seem to be a dojustsu(eye technique) she managed to get into my mind without touching me, this could be very bad.^ _"Look." I say hoping to steer her thoughts away from how dangerous I could be... and am, "I really am from far to the north. I got lost and asked for directions from those ninja. I now want nothing more than to get home... maybe recover and definitely find something to eat." At this Anko raised her eyebrow seeing the sincerity in my eyes but she still wasn't completely convinced, I did just try to escape after all.

"Those rouges have been stealing secret scrolls from Konoha for over three months now. And they had help from a young girl matching your age and description. Until you can prove otherwise, or submit to mind probing you will remain here at the hospital to recover a and, after that, be transported to a holding cell for suspected affiliation with the enemy to be interrogated further." _WHAT!_ Anko steps down from the bed and heads for the door, "Wait a minute! I've never even met those rouges before let alone worked for them!" She ignores me and opens the door, "There will be two Anbu guarding this door. Don't try to escape." she says going out into the hallway and shutting the door, "You're just going to leave me in here!" I call out after her, but she is already far down the hallway and can no longer hear me. _There is no way for me to prove my innocence without telling them everything or letting them trash my mind. Neither of which sound interesting to me._

Despite theses thoughts I smile to myself, she had said 'there will be two Anbu guarding the door" to try and lure me into a trap exposing myself as desperate and guilty._ But I don't need any doors._ I think to myself a plan forming in my head.

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~AN: I hope you like this chapter, I finely got around to writing it. Please review, it is nice to know that someone actually reads my stories and their comments(constructive criticism and ideas are always appreciated)... BTW having my sister as a beta reader may not be the smartest idea I've ever had, she does have good ideas and grammer though...-.-

_BN: Ok... after avoiding this for *Insert random, obscene, amount of time here*, I finally broke down and Beta-ed.(Wydra, you owe me, BIG time!) Wasn't as bad as I had expected though, and after fixing the large, with lack of a better word, blob, of incorrect grammar, and lack of paragraphs, I have finally finished! Free at last! No more nagging to Beta the next chapter, or questions on 'how this scene sounds'! ...*Listening to Wydra* O.O *Gasp* No! Oh, horrors of horrors! The evil tyrant has just informed me that chapter three is almost finished! I don't think I'm going to live... Is that a light at the end of a tunnel? *Loud 'bop'-ing sound* I just earned a bump on my head as a reward of my theater skills... Pity me! Better yet, SAVE ME!_

_If ever asked to Beta for Wydra when, not if*, I get fired, be prepared to hit the ',' key... a lot! _

...

*bop*

..._Ow_...

*_The plan involves news paper, flour, coconuts, and glitter... LOTS of glitter!_

~AN:Whyyyyyy did I ever let my sister onto this account... WHYYYYY! (...at least she is amusing. . I can't believe I said that out loud! O.O)


	3. Santhree

NaruSan-EraNi-AniIchi

Written by: Wydra

and Beta by: MashumelloKage

* * *

**Legend:**

_My thoughts,_

_^Other peoples thoughts^_

_**~Mindspeaking to my dragon~**_

_**^my dragon speaking to me^**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Inheritance or Animorphs or anything related or concerning them, I do own Tori and Istalri

* * *

Chapter San(three):

_"Those rouges have been stealing secret scrolls from Konoha for over three months now. And they had help from a young girl matching your age and description. Until you can prove otherwise, or you submit to mind probing you will have to remain here at the hospital to recover and, after that, be transported to a holding cell for suspected affiliation with the enemy to be interrogated further."_ Alone in the hospital room I go over Anko's words repeatedly in my head. _Nope. _I decide at last._ Absolutely nothing good is going to come out of complying with Anko's plans._

I stop my incessant pacing to stare briefly out the window into the inky black of night, wanting nothing more than to sprout wings and fly out of this colourless white prison. The only thing stopping me from morphing bird and escaping, is a shimmery, pulsating blue screen covering the window. Soon after Anko left, two Konoha shinobi came in and applied the shield to the window before taking up their stations as guards outside my hospital room door. Once again conscious of the fact I am being held prisoner, the now familiar feeling of claustrophobia descends on me like a vulture on a poor, helpless, dying piece of prey, and I resume my anxious pacing. _ I HATE feeling caged in! _I shout at since being held captive by Galbtorix in a small, dark, dank prison cell and being torturedI have had Cleithrophobia... The fear of being trapped and restrained.

The moon shines in my window almost as if to remind me I'm not completely without hope, ideas of escape have been running through my head since Anko left, some of which I could execute and use to escape right now. The problem is that all of my plans so far require me to morph something infinitely small, like a fly, then slipping under the door and through the rest of the hospital unnoticed. If not for Istalri's Elunduri, I would have skedaddled hours ago, but Istalri meant as much to me as my own life and there was no way I was leaving her 'heart' behind.

Once again I direct my thoughts to breaking out of here. It really shouldn't be this hard, I've always really enjoyed escaping games on the computer. What's so different in real life? I have morphing capabilities, mind-reading and limited mind-control skills at my disposal! ... Then again. I am up against trained ninjas with years of severe and demanding training, in comparison my learn on the fly tuition by inconsistent and unqualified persons makes me look like a newb. The Jonin guarding my room are also equipped with ninjutsu, genjutsu and, oh, lets not forget LOTS of weapons. *sigh* _Focus Tor', Focus. And NOT on the negative... _

Footsteps in the hallway outside my room draw my attention from formulating a plan, I hear a few muted words and the door is opened by one of the Jonin and a slight, white-clad nurse shuffles in, pushing a small cart containing piles of medical supplies. The Jonin follows the nurse into the room and shuts the door behind him. Looking surprised, the nurse mumbles something about patient privacy, but the shinobi just shakes his head and gives me a cold, accusing look. _I guess Anko gave the guards a heads up on my telepathy abilities._ I note, as the nurse hesitates then gives her head a little shake before continuing to push her cart toward my side of the room.

Stopping just inside my alcove she gives me a friendly and compassionate smile pointing to my injuries, "Watashi wa shūsei." she says with an encouraging expression. I understand something like help and/or heal, from her thoughts, so I nod and her smile broadens. _She can't be much older than twenty or so and seems so genuinely happy to be helping me. _I smile back, but as she removes a few supplies from her cart I conceive a brilliant plan to freedom. _Ok I wouldn't call it brilliant but it might actually work... _Guilt stabs at my stomach watching the sweet little nurse begin to work on my cuts. _She may be nice but she must've known the dangers in being here, it's not like I plan on hurting her. Just using her to get myself out... _I steel myself,_ I can't let such perfect opportunity to escape just pass me by when fate so clearly provides her means. _I reason poetically.

The nurse inspects my injured right arm and starts to unwind the tattered and bloodstained bandages from the wound that was reopened by Anko's shuriken. The dressing covers my entire upper arm and part of my shoulder, as she reaches the edge of my sleeve she looks pointedly at me, motioning for me to remove my shirt so she can continue unwrapping my arm. Having foreseen this implication earlier is what gave me the idea for escape.

I widen my eyes dramatically at her suggestion and force a blush to creep into my cheeks stealing a glimpse at the shinobi by the door. She nods understandingly and tells the ninja to stand outside while she dresses my wounds. He rolls his eyes and huffs stating he needs to be in here to protect the nurse from me and really doesn't care about my preferences.

Inwardly I scowl at him, annoyed he doesn't follow along with my plans. Thinking fast I turn to the nurse and shake my head furiously pasting a look of indignant fear on my face. It works and I can feel the women's compassion emanating off her for poor little innocent me. I feel like gaging with my guilt and the naiveté of the nurse. She moves to close the curtains and snaps at the guard when he protests. According to her philosophy, even prisoners have a right to privacy in Konoha.

My conscience prods at me one last time before giving up as I resolve to go through with my scheme. I wait for her to finish with my arm, redressing it with salve and clean gauze before gently holding her by the arm and forcing her to look into my eyes.

_~I'm sorry I have to do this to you.~_ I thought speak to her before invading her mind and putting her into an induced sleep. As she slumps onto my lap I quietly shift her onto the bed and, with one hand on her arm, concentrate on her sleeping form and acquire her DNA for morphing. Quickly, silently, I morph into the kindhearted nurse and put on her oversized nurses outfit, white hat and white sneakers. Tucking her into my blankets I turn her face away from the door and pull the sheet up to slightly cover her exposed hair. Except that her hair is slightly longer than mine, you can't tell the difference between us from the back.

"I'm sorry," I whisper quietly into her ear, "I'm really not guilty and need to find my impostor. I'll try to pay you back someday." I hide my pack under some of the bloody bandages on the cart and wheel it out from behind the curtains plastering my face with the same benign smile the women graced me with earlier.

I start to push the cart toward the door when the guard stops me with a finger pointing toward the closed curtains, "Open the curtains, I need to make sure your mushy-soft heart hasn't bended to the brat's will." he orders. I recover from my initial shock at being able to understand him and briskly walk back to the alcove, pushing back the curtains with what I hope is an offended look on my face.

"Happy?" I chance saying, pleased to hear my voice come out in perfectly accented Japanese. _Speaking foreign languages is certainly a handy side affect of morphing. _I reflect, walking calmly through the door the guard holds open for me. His eyes don't leave the sleeping form and I begin to wonder if he suspects something. Mentally I curse that morphing also doesn't let me read peoples minds'.

"I gave her a sedative to help her sleep." I say in my best nurse-like, matter-of-fact tone, "It should keep her unconscious for another couple of hours but she may continue to sleep even after it wears off. Goodness knows she needs it." I say walking away down the hallway.

Leaving my prison behind makes me feel euphoric and I have to fight to keep from skipping,_ This may actually work!_ I think trying to keep an ecstatic grin off my face and compromising by smiling warmly as I stroll down the halls. Soon however all my feelings of euphoria dissipate when I realize I still have to maneuver my way out of the hospital.

**~~~^~v~^~v~^~TimeSkip(45 min. Later)~^~v~^~v~~~**

After wondering around for a bit I come to an intersection of two hallways, a couple of nurses pass in front of me and I eavesdrop on them. I learn that they are finished for the night and heading home.

Abandoning the cart I slip my pack under my oversized white coat and trail the two women down the hallway as inconspicuously as possible. I am concentrating so hard on the people ahead of me I nearly jump out of my skin when someone speaks from close behind.

"Kishi, where are you going?" a guy's voice asks. Whipping around I can't hide the brief look of fear and suspicion that flashes across my face as I once again stand face to face with someone I remember from the pages of fiction, "K..Kabuto.." I stutter, caught off-guard recognizing his round glasses, white and purple outfit and grey hair pulled back in a ponytail, despite being only nineteen or twenty.

He waits patiently for my reply and I scramble to think up some excuse, "I was just heading home. I wasn't feeling particularly good and was told to go home early." Kabuto nods and thankfully doesn't ask 'who' told me to go home early.

"I heard you were tending to the prisoner, apparently she has exceptional telepathic abilities. Anko-san said the girl tried messing with her thoughts without hand signs or physical contact. Did you notice anything worth noting about her?" he pauses before giving me a look of concern, "Did the Jonin on guard check to see if you had been affected by telepathy?" I hesitate, feeling ultra uncomfortable knowing who he really is and trying hard not to let it show. I try my hardest to smile politely and give a small nod, "Of course. It was the first thing they checked when I finished. And I'm sorry but the girl seemed perfectly normal to me." I say, lying about the Jonin checking me. Kabuto's eyes darken slightly but he just nods at me with a smile, "Too bad you didn't find out anything." he says walking by me, "See you later Kishi." With one last smile at me he walks down the hall and turns down one of the corridors out of sight.

I let out a sigh of relief and exaggerate wiping fake sweat from my brow to ease the tension in my body. Looking down the hall I realize the women I was following have long since gone. Walking quickly, hoping to catch up to them, I head toward where I last saw them turn. The luck of heros, or at least main characters, seems to be on my side tonight as I see a pair of doors leading out of the hospital just around the corner. Freedom beckons me on and I exit the white building without so much as a glance from the receptionist at the desk.

Cool air refreshes my face as I step out under the fading stars. Breathing a deep breath of clean, crisp outdoor air, I feel happy and free. Remembering I am still in morph, I try to figure how long I've been wandering around the hospital. Probably less than the two hour limit, but better safe than sorry. Hastening down the dimly lit street I slip into an alleyway to demorph and remorph the nurse, this time morphing more casual clothes. A black T-shirt with a low white collar and a pair of comfortable black caprees with a burgundy red waist-line. The clothes take a fair amount of concentration but I have considerably improved my clothes morphing techniques. No more skin-tight body suits and leotards for me. I keep the nurses white sneakers, I still haven't figured out shoes yet, and then resume walking through the brightening streets of Konoha.

I wander the village searching for an abandoned building or someplace sheltered where I can rest and recover my waning strength. I let my feet chose their own path until coming to a stop in front of an old broken gate with a poster reading "No Trespassing." in kanji. Hoping to find somewhere safe to inside, I climb over the broken gate and find myself looking around an abandoned compound. Boarded up houses and shops line deserted streets and I walk around feeling like I'm the only living being in the entire complex. A familiar, faded insignia and the kanji symbols for police on sign outside one of the buildings explains this desolate and abandoned district of Konoha.

"Konoha Military Police Force, Uchiha District."

...

**AN:**** I think this is my fav chapter so far... I like writing action and I also like playing/writing escapes. Please review! Chapter 4 coming soon. ^.^**

BN: Wow! I hardly had to do anything! ^.^ Wyrda was quite excited to actually end with a cliffhanger... I agree that it is a cliffy, just not the most heart-stopping one I've read. Not my fav chapter, oh no!, That will be chapter four! I join forces with Tori and take over the WORLD! MWAHAHAHAHAAAA! ... . ... . ... . Ok, maybe not, I do get my own character though! And she comes in next chapter! So REVIEW and read the next chapter! Or I'll sentence you to sweep floors when I'm Queen of the world!


	4. Shifour

NaruSan-EraNi-AniIchi

Written by: Wydra

and Beta by: MashumelloKage

* * *

**Legend:**

_My thoughts,_

_^Other peoples thoughts^_

_**~Mindspeaking to my dragon~**_

_**^my dragon speaking to me^**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Inheritance or Animorphs or anything related or concerning them, I do own Tori and Istalri

* * *

Chapter Shi (4)

"_Konoha Military Police Force, Uchiha District."_

_..._

I look around with new understanding, _The Uchiha clan was massacred by Itachi over five years ago... I guess no one wanted to live in the shadow of such a atrocious act... _Further down the street one of the doors creak open and I jump and immediately dart into the shadows between two buildings. _I guess someone does still live here..._ Sasuke Uchiha, the only surviving member of his clan, passes by my hiding place without so much as a glance in my direction. _This is probably the best area to hide in, but I definitely don't want that creep of a kid to be the one to find me lurking around his clans compound._ Waiting until Sasuke's retreating footsteps are long gone I wander back out into the sunlight.

The sun is now completely clear of the horizon though the reddish purple tinges of early dawn still cling to it. I figure by now my escape has been made known, hopefully no one saw me on the way down but I suppose it is better to be safe than sorry. I scan the nearby run-down structures and walk over to inspect one. The bottom level of the building in question is completely sealed by boards of wood covering the lower windows and both of the doors. The second and third stories however, seem to be intact but for a few broken panes in the windows, one of which is just the right size for a bird to fly through.

Looking around to make sure there is no one in sight, I demorph then morph into an Osprey. Springing off of the hard-packed dirt I soar upwards, aiming for one of the holes in the window on the second story. I zip through tucking my wings tightly against my sides, and land in a wood-paneled room. After demorphing I look through the window, from my vantage point I can see a good ways down both sides of the street. Not that there is anyone, or anything to see.

I draw my attention back to the room, apart from a layer of dust everything seems so placid and normal. The single sleeping mat in the corner is made with a corner turned back and a small dresser hosts a brush and mirror.

Walking through an open doorway on the other side of the room, I find myself in a long hallway, a few more doorways lead off to more rooms, each one looks untouched after years of being shut away. As I walk these lonely rooms and look at the happy faces in the photographs no one cares to remember, I feel a deep and stirring sympathy for these families who all lie dead and forgotten in the tragedy of this place.

I finish exploring the second story before the exertion from all my morphing and all the running around escaping begins to catch up with me.

Shaking the dust out of a thick wool blanket, I curl up on one of the sleeping mats and dream of black haired little kids running through the echoing hallways of the house.

-Next Evening-

When I wake night has fallen again and the moon shines down on me, already almost through with it's nightly journey. Finally feeling refreshed and back to normal I yawn with a smile, glad to feel so free and safe... more or less.

I sit cross legged on the floor meditating on my predicament. _My only problem in this new dimension, is a girl, who looks very similar to me... Or is another me from another dimension, _I shudder inadvertently at the thought and immediately dismiss that possibility, _that has been working with these "rouge ninja" to steal important scrolls from Konoha... So. Find the girl and let the Konoha I&T mind-search her for the truth. No way in heck are they going to check me._

With a course of action in mind I now need a plan _Hmmm... I've got... nothing ..._ _Well why don't I start with renaissance and check out the area. _Knowing I can't use the nurse's body as there is no doubt in my mind that my ruse has been discovered, I consider collecting the DNA of a native bird, but that wouldn't allow me to ask questions without raising extreme suspicion._ I'm going to need to find another person to morph..._

An hour or two later and I return to my headquarters with a couple strands of hair from an unsuspecting shopkeeper downtown. The women was just sweeping dust out of her store when I swooped down to grab a claw-full of hair. I was careful to let most of her hair slip through, I only needed a few strands to get DNA from and didn't exactly want to leave the lady with large bald spot on her head.

Acquiring the form of the middle aged, black-haired lady, I borrow a plain tan and brown kimmono and a wine-coloured obi from a closet in the house. Although my clothes morphing has improved, the loose fitting dress style of a kimono is definitely out of my ability.

Realizing I can't fit through the hole in the window as a human, I toss the clothes out the window and morph bird. I fly out the window and then demorph when I reach the ground. Once again I have to morph, this time to the shopkeeper. I morph a tight fitting black outfit to go underneath the kimono and, after shaking the tan fabric of dust, put it on tying the dark red obi snugly around my middle.

Running my hands through my now-long and black hair to untangle it a little, I exit the Uchiha compound just as dawn touches the horizon. I'm careful to make sure neither Sasuke or anyone else sees me leave the compound.

-Time Skip-

By noon I'm exhausted, I've had to morph twice, been chased by three dogs that thought I "smelt" funny, _Despite telling them in mind-speak TO GO AWAY! _and had a close call with a guy who apparently knew "Mieku", the women I morphed, very well. After he sauntered up to me and tried to give me a slobbery kiss I had to lead him on a wild goose chase and then wipe all memories of me from his head.

_All of that and I'm still no closer to finding my pretender._ _*sigh*_

Deciding to try one last place before taking a break and finding some well-deserved food, I go over to a ramen bar and sit down. _Why don't we kill two birds with one stone._ Pulling out the coin purse I stole from the "kisser dude", I order a bowl of hot salty noodles with vegetables. Once again I am very thankful for the in-morph translator. Reaching to take the change from the ramen lady, I feel a small tug at my side.

Looking down a young child, no more than 5 or 6, looks up at me with adorably cute, teary blue eyes. "Please Okusama, do you have any extra change?" the kid asks in a quivering voice, her bottom lip trembling slightly for effect. Pretty sure the girl is scamming me but not willing to spurn a little kid, I turn to take my change from the ramen lady and when I turn back the girl is gone.

With sudden unease I reach behind me to find my pack and Tess' Elunduri, gone. "FUDGE!" I yell, my voice filled with rising panic... and anger. _Blodugr skulblaka! _I think as I sprint after the kid,_ If it weren't for Ista's stupid heart-of-stone the gaki could have my pack! But nooo I had to take my most prized possessions with me. What, did I think some bird was going to steal my stuff in that dusty old house! _Rushing into a bustling square, I frantically search for the kid, _There._

I spot the girl's oversized grey-blue coat through the bodies and I push and shove my way toward her as quickly as I can. Of course I'm not paying very much attention to who I'm pushing and suddenly I've been l flipped onto the ground and pinned by my arm, "Watch where your going kasu." a man sneers at me. _I guess I should be more careful in a village filled with ninja. _I think to myself getting to my feet and mumbling my apologies. The rude dude with spiky green hair melts back into the crowd and I scan for the kid.

_Great! Now what the fish am I going to do... _Looking up to the rooftops I quickly surmise that being above the congested streets is probably a better idea than rashly chases shadows. Weaving my way to a side alleyway I hide myself in the shadows, de-morphing to myself than re-morphing to bird before flying up above the buildings. I flap as fast as I can, scanning the crowds below me for the kid. My binocular-like vision spots the grey hooded shortie just before she ducks into an alleyway. I dive and rocket through the alleyway after her.

By the time I catch up to her around the corner she has already emptied my pack on the ground and is quickly sifting through my stuff looking for valuables. I brake sharply, de-morphing as fast as I can and really not caring as she stares at me with shock and disbelief. I only slow down slightly at the end of the morph to concentrate on a basic outfit so I don't end up morphing myself naked.

~_You have one second to drop that pack before I flip._~ I mind speak to her. Her lip quivers slightly as she considers crying to get my sympathy again, but she rethinks and decides to bolt figuring the large white stone has got to be worth something.

"Arrrgh!" I yell in frustration as she takes off sprinting with me close behind her. I gain on her quickly but she's as slippery as an eel, ducking to the side she rolls under a hedge and I have to crawl under after her.

On the other side is a park with a few people strolling, most of them stop to stare as I wriggle out from under the bush. I scan the area looking up into the trees and brushing all the nearby minds for the mischievous little rat. More than a few people flinch as a piercing migraine, me, rushes through their heads. I do a second take when I sense the girls mind emanating from a person my height calmly leaving the park.

I sprint after the girl, grabbing her by the back of the shirt and dragging her into the shade of a nearby building. Pushing against the wall I use my free hand to yank Istalri's Elunduri from her grip. _~"Your flippin DEAD!"~ _I yell at her in mind-speak and out loud for extra impact. She stares at me for a minute before her eyes fill up with tears, suddenly I notice the resemblance between the two of us. "You." I say, realizing this is the culprit I've been looking for all day.

I almost drop her when she disappears in a poof of smoke only to be replaced by the young girl from earlier. She looks up at me with watery eyes seemingly searching my face for something, I frown and something in her seems to break. She crumples and uncontrollable sobs rack her pitifully slight frame.

I am very confused at this point as to whether this is the real person or only an illusion. Gently I put her down, she draws her knees up to her face. After a few moments her sobbing turns to quiet sniffles and she looks up at me tears running down her face. "Your not my Onii-chan, are you?" she asks her voice mingled with fear and hope.

"No, but I'm guessing that I look a lot like her."

"I.. I thought you were a ghost at first." she stutters slightly raising a hand to wipe her face, "My onii-chan died a couple of weeks ago. I..I didn't want her to steal the secret scrolls. The.. the men said they would kill me, and the police wouldn't believe a pathetic thief like me. Onii-chan only helped them so she could pay to take care of us..." her voice rises a little, "She.. she didn't mean to hurt anyone. Then..then they..they killed her. And now.. now no-one knows she's dead.. and nobody cares." At that she starts crying again. I put a hand on her shoulder and she uncoils like a spring to wrap shaking arms around my neck for comfort. I automatically tense but after a moment of not getting attacked I relax and hold her tight until her crying stops.

An hour later and I am re-morphed into my guise as a shopkeeper and walking hand in hand with the young girl. After recovering from her bout of sadness she rebounded and tried to make a break for it, even after I explained (almost) everything to her, she still wouldn't agree to helping me. Finely after much protest on her part, I grabbed her hand, morphed and marched off with her in tow. Ahe immediately started screaming bloody murder... or should I say bloody kidnapper and I had to clout her over the head to get her to shut up. Of course, although she stopped yelling after awhile she thought the best way to get rid of me was to try and annoy me to death.

"Cat over there, dog too! Can we go pet the dog? Come on please please please plea... OH! Look! An onigiri stall! Can we get some? Please? Please, please, please, pleas... Hey, that dude has a funny hat, can I have it? Please? Please, please, pleas... Look! ..."and other ramble of nonsense before I finely found the I&T building where, according to the not-so-adorably-annoying Diji, was where criminals, petty thieves to heinous murderers, were taken to be questioned and penalized.

As we approached the building Diji's thoughts became more and more insistently weird, "Why don't we go for a walk, you like walks. We could find somewhere to eat, I'm hungry, I know you are too, wanna go eat... Sushi? Ramen? Pickles, ummmm I LOVE pickles, so does Mai, he' my cat, he eats pickles for breakfast, lunch, dinner, in chocolate, and with cake..."

When we finally reached the door I was about ready to tell them to lock her away and throw away the key... Actually I was a bit worried about the little girl, _Helping the enemy is a very serious act, I think you get executed here for that. But they won't execute a kid will they?_ I hesitate my hand on the door, "Whats the matter? Oh yeah, they do execute traitors don't they... It won't be so bad, they'll make it painless I'm sure... after the interrogation at least. Don't worry too much about it though, I'll just get to see my sister sooner."I stare at her in surprise, _Did she just guess what I was thinking? _

Going down to her eye level I search her eyes for any trace of a lie... none. I sigh and straighten up, turning around I begin to walk back down the stairs and away from the building. _*snicker* "_Sucker..." I hear her whisper under her breath.I spin on her wrenching and twisting her hand painfully and glaring into her eyes.

_I can't believe it! _ I think, my surprise showing on my face._ She's totally bluffing! She figured out my weakness... and exploited it! _"Your the one who feel for it baka" she scows, irritated her ruse was detected.

"You know she says." bragging, "I know this place inside and out, I've even stolen a Konoha 'Rules and their Repercussions' book to find loopholes in the law from the Konoha Library. So you know what they're going to make me do? Community service! No fine, no excuses actual manual labor!" With that I turn around rolling my eyes and sighing as I head back toward the I&T building.

"Library's are free anyway so it's not actually stealing." I tell her as we walk back up the steps. Diji gives me an evil grin, "It is when you don't bring the book back! Muh ha ha ha ha ha hahahahaha..." I blink at her slowly, _She is definitely a nutcase._ I think as we climb back up the steps and go into the I&T building. Abruptly she stops and gives me a smug, happy smile, "Aren't I great?"

* * *

A.N: Yay chap four is up! D I wrote the slightly creep beginning(K it gave me shivers when I wrote it but cut me some slack! I live in a old sometimes creepy old house to start off with! :o) because four, sometime written as 'Shi' in Japanese, can also mean death. p I am actually ahead in writing my story... just behind in editing and posting(editing an already written story is sooooo boring D). I am already at chap 6 and I think the chapters are slowly getting better...*shrug* Anyway I hope you enjoy! :) Pls Review.


	5. Gofive

_My thoughts,_

_^Other peoples thoughts^_

_~Mindspeaking to other people~_

_**~Mindspeaking to Istalri(Tori's dragon)~**_

_**^Istalri(Tori's dragon) speaking to me^**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Inheritance or Animorphs or anything related or concerning them, I do own Tori and Istalri.

Chapter Go (5):

We enter and I talk to the uniformed man at the desk, apparently there's a wait and although I try to explain it's urgent, he interrupts when he sees Diji. With a look of exasperation he brushes me off explaining that the I&T are dealing with two murders, a missing nin of B rank and still trying to locate the Hokages pipe... well the last one he added as a thought I happened to catch. Apparently Konohamaru is still up to his pranks. As we sit in the uncomfortable chairs of the waiting room Diji admits the receptionist probably isn't taking me seriously because shopkeepers are often bringing the small fingersmith in for "borrowing" valuables from the shelves.

After waiting what seems like the entire day the receptionist waves us over and pulls out a very thick file from the filing cabinet. Opening it he doesn't even look up as flips through pages and pages of records, "What did she do this time." he asks. "Uh those can't all be hers." I ask flabbergasted that such a young kid could be so much trouble. "She learnt shoplifting("Hey! It's called fingersmithing!") fast after her parents and then her sister died." he said giving Diji a sympathetic look that she scowled at. "Are there no orphanages or people willing to take her in?" I asked having been bothered by the fact Diji was alone since I first met her. "She's run away from all the orphanages we put her into and after stealing("Fingersmithing!") from almost every person in the village no one is willing to take her back." At this Diji smiled triumphantly, "My sister took care of both of us, no way I'm going to let her down and rely on some sucker babysitter to tell me what I can and cannot do." The officer shakes his head knowing he obviously wasn't going to get anywhere with the kid.

"So." he said reverting his gaze back to me, "What did she snatch this time." "Well," I said shifting on my feet uncomfortably not knowing if I should reveal myself to this guy or someone of higher rank... "It's to do with the stolen scrolls and the rouges." I compromise hoping he'll know who to direct me to who's in charge of the case, I didn't exactly want to blurt out who I was and get arrested without getting to say my part.

Diji squirms and I can feel her slightly tugging on my hand holding her wrist. "The secret scrolls the Telepathy Girl stole?" He asked his expression quizzical. _Like seriously, Telepathy Girl. Jeez, how original do these guys wanna get?_ I nod and his expression turns serious as he turns to Diji, "What kind of mess have you gotten yourself into?" Diji pales slightly looking scared, I can't tell if she's faking it or truly is scared of the consequences her actions might insue.

"The information I have is kinda sensitive," I say, reluctantly drawing the officers attention back to me. "I would prefer to talk to the Hokage..." I close my eyes and let out a barley audible sigh, _The only way I'm going to get these people to believe me is to tell them the truth... or most of it._

"Look," I say snapping my eyes open and beginning to demorph, "I'm Tori, I've come here with the real culprit to clear my name." As soon as I said my name two sentry's who were guarding a nearby hallway walk briskly over to investigate.

"Your the escaped convict?" One of the men ask, _Yeah me and my stupid rash decisions._ My facial features start to skew and shrink back to 'normal'. Their eyes widen in surprise, fear and disgust and all three immediately draw their kunais. "Eeek!" Diji exclaims clinging to my arm and eyeing the sharp blades pointed at me but completely ignoring my unnatural performance._ I guess she's already seen me demorph and really doesn't care._

"Tori this isn't how we were supposed to do this!" she cries, "I thought you weren't going to tell them who you really were!" The officer looks at me with suspicion in his eyes, "If you weren't going to reveal yourself, what changed your mind?" He asks raising an eyebrow.

"If I want to establish trust I figured I had better start somewhere. I used deceit to get into here because you wouldn't have listened to me otherwise, just assumed I was using the kid. I could have easily walked in here, accused Diji and walked out. With you none the wiser." I pause for effect(**1**), "I have information that could essentially save lives, but is very very classified so I need to talk to the Hokage." He contemplates this and thankfully seems to see some glimmer of truth in my eyes because he waves the two security guards top back off and lowers his kunai. _Doesn't put it away though... _I note.

"Ebisu, please take Diji to room 3, I'll inform Mitarashi and she can question the kid herself." _Anko's in charge of the case I guess... _Not taking his eyes of me, Ebisu nods and reaches for Diji's hand, "Wait!" Diji cries pulling away from the man and turning to look at me.

~_It's alright, if I talk to the Hokage I might be able to convince I'm telling the truth, you'll be fine. you said so yourself they aren't going to hurt you.~_

Diji nods, her thoughts betray she's actually more worried for me but she would never admit it.

_^I'll do my best for you, Tori...^_ Diji thinks to me as loud as she can as I'm escorted away...

_I don't really want to know what her best is..._

~~~~~Time skip: 2 hours~~~~~

I pace the cramped windowless room I have been stuck in for goodness knows how long. The dude Kado, who was assigned to guard me until the Hokage had a free moment, had opened the door, told me he'd be here if I needed anything and then shut and locked the door on me.

My claustrophobia was gradually mounting as the minutes wore by._ What is it with these stupid ninja's and closed-in, white rooms._ I think to myself trying to keep my mind occupied with random thoughts. Finally voices echoing in the hall alert me to two approaching people. Kado opens the door and the officer from before enters, Anko Miarashi close behind. "Looks like the kid's story checks out." she addresses me with a crooked smiling. "The Hokage has time to see you now." With that she turns and walks out, I have to hurry to keep up with her swift pace. Glancing behind, I notice Kado following us through the networks of hallways until we reach a wooden door.

Anko turns and issues a command in Japanese to him before opening the door and ushering me through. She follow and pokes me forward shutting the door behind us and drenching us in near darkness. The only light comes from a narrow string of lights in the ceiling casting an eery glow as we amble through the dirt-floored passage. Soon though we come to another wooden door and we go through only to find ourselves at the bottom of a steep staircase. This time Anko leads and I end up staggering the last few steps as we reach the top of nearly twenty flights of stairs in record time.

Anko just rolls her eyes at me, hardly even breathing hard and holds open yet another wooden door. I go in and am surprised to find myslef in the neatly furnished, if rather cluttered Hokages office.

"Good afternoon," the Hokage greets me in English, I still can't get over how many people in the Naruverse know Engilish... _I wonder if it has anything to do with all the Americanized Fanfics and translated manga/animes... _

"Good afternoon, Hokage...-sama?" I say adding the honorific of respect questionable, not knowing if this is how I should address him. He nods his approval, "You requested to talk to me personally because you are in possession of sensitive information?" he asks getting straight to the point.

I am hesitant and it must show on my face as I glance around at the door I just enter through. _Anko must have remained outside._

The hokage smiles and motions for me to sit down. "Please don't be anxious. The young girl Diji has confessed and her story matches the chain of events... unless you have committed some other crime?" he asks raising an eyebrow, I shake my head but sit even yet frowning.

_What should I tell him... Should I warn him of future events? It could save so many lives... even his... _

_What right do I have to stay silent when human beings hang in the balance. _

_Buuutt... *sigh* Then again by telling the hokage the course of events and if he takes any action based on my information... The sequence, or even the storyline, could be irreversibly damaged... for better or for worse._

"Errgg". I say out loud quietly exasperated, _What the heck, I'll just let the Hokage decide._

I close my eyes and forming an easy to understand and believable speech in my head while the Hokage waits patiently for me to start, _Here goes nothing..._

"What I am about to say is strange, crazy and somewhat surreal." I begin, meeting his eyes and trying to emanate honesty, "Please hear me out and do your best to at least consider what I'm saying to be true, and one other warning. By telling you the future course of events I am in effect changing these same events. Although if you chose not to act upon what I tell you there is a good chance the storyline will stay just as I predicted. With that in mind..."

I go on to explain that I'm from a far, far away country... another 'dimension' in fact. There a series of manga called 'Naruto', record the story of a young boy and his adventures. I also give a very brief bio of my own history, the other books I went through and how I was a catalyst in those stories as well, changing the course of events.

I give him a few details of current events, to the best of my knowledge Naruto is part of Team 7. It seems they have already returned from their first 'C' turned 'A' rank mission.

I recount as much Konoha history as I can remember, including Naruto's birth involving Uchiha Mandara, the Kyubi and the fourth Hokages death. I also discribe Itachi Uchiha's family massacre and mention Danzo's and the Konoha councils involvement, knowing it is a very well kept secret.

After this, when I feel the Hokage is at least willing to accept my claim of coming from another dimension(who else could know these ultra classified secrets), I reveal a few highlights of upcoming events including the Chunin Exam incidents, Sasuke's betrayal, the time skip of three years while Naruto is training with Jiriya, and many other important features. When last I come to the end of my knowledge, the series not being completed when I left my dimension, I pause for a breath.

The Hokage is now sitting back in his chair his fingers tip to tip thoughtfully, a frown marking his pensive state of mind. Although he wasn't quite ready to believe my outrageous claims, from what I read from his emotions, he was certainly clever enough to seriously consider what I said and the consequences of acting upon... or ignoring this information.

I shift uncomfortably, frowning at what I have yet to tell him. I had been careful not to let slip that he died, wanting to at least give him some warning before I do so and to give him some more time to come to terms with, and believe, my story.

We sit in silence for a few more minutes, and although I try to hide it the Hokage senses my discomfort, "There is something more you wish to tell me?" he asks finely.

I nod opening my mouth, but then close it again thinking hard on how to put it, "Hokage-sama, I mentioned a few people who die, and also that some of their deaths, although they can be avoided, might change the future unfavorably. One of the people that die... well umm..." I trail off when I meet his eyes and can see he already knows what I am about to say, "Sir, well, you die... You see..." Here he cuts me off with an upheld hand, smiling sadly, "While I thank you for your openness and concern, some things are better left unknown. You have given me a great deal to think about..." He trails off momentarily lost in thought before he meets my eyes again.

"Whether your claim about what lies ahead is accurate or not, only time can tell. In the meantime your knowledge on rather confidential and dangerous secrets makes you a liability to the village. If any of our enemies, or even allies got a hold of this information, the Land of Fire would be in dire situation. As such you must understand that we cannot allow you to wander unprotected. Three rouges were easily able to disarm you," at this I scowl at the memory of getting my butt whipped.

"Do you have any formal training?" He asks. I give him a dark look, "All of my training has been sporadic and mainly self-help due to developing situations. My morphing allows me to escape most fatal injuries but my movements are slow and cumbersome. My aptitude with my sword is adequate for fighting off a solider or two but is useless against a ninja of any caliber. I would appreciate learning how to defend myself in this world, I've already demonstrated how all to easy it is to capture me. _Although I did manage to escape. _I add smirking slightly to myself.

The hokage shakes his head, "It would be best to give you some sort of supplementary training..." he trails off again thinking, "Very well, as you are not familiar with shinobi teachings, the best place for you to learn in the Ninja academy. As you do have some proficiency as a combatant I will also assign you to a genin team for training as well. You will have to work twice as hard as most other genin since you have quite a bit of catching up to do for someone your age. I must also ask that you officially join the Leaf. Pledging your allegiance... and secrecy, to ensure the safety of the Land of Fire." I nod and he stands as I scramble to do the same.

"For tonight you will stay with Anko," he says, I nod. "Once I have talked with the council of Elders you will be initiated into the Leaf. Then you will be able to join a Genin team and enroll at the Academy. Up until that time, Anko will take care of you and help you find someplace to stay permanently."

"Sir." I ask suddenly realizing I haven't mentioned my desire to get home. "I originally wanted to turn myself in so as to gain access to a certain jutsu Kakashi Hatake uses to transport objects.. and people, to other dimensions." The hokage looks perplexed and I recall that Kakashi doesn't learn this particular Jutsu until later on in the series. "He invents in a few years." I add to clear up the hokages confusion. He nods, "I see but until then you will have to carry on your existence here, and thus our plans remain the same." I nod in agreement, then ask how Diji is doing and what will become of her.

The Hokage sighs and shakes his head. "Her punishment, as she personally had very little to with the rouges, will be a years worth of community service. Otherwise there is very little we can do for her when she refuses all the help people provide... she will be sent to another orphanage and hopefully she will have learned her lesson." From the brief time I spent with the rebellious young girl I know this strategy won't work. He gives me a slightly calculating look before adding, "Although she seems to have taken a liking to you now hasn't she? You wouldn't be willing to take responsibility for her would you? After all you are the one who turned her in."

I open my mouth to decline politely but my stupid guilty conscious has other ideas and instead I find myself agreeing. _Oh yeah Tori there's a great idea, offer to take care of the kid and get yourself attached to this warped dimension... what are you going to do when you have to go home... _I brush these thoughts out of my head and the Hokage opens the door for me. Outside his office Anko stands waiting, _I wonder if Anko was expecting to look after two charges._

-Time skip-

After collecting Diji from the I&T building we walk through Konoha following Anko. I hold Diji's hand tightly as we walk, she had tried to make a break for it as soon as we had left the I&T building. "What the heck do you think you're doing?" I had demanded when I had caught up to her and grabbed her. "Oh," she said surprised. "I didn't think you were serious about taking me in, I thought you agreed so I could get away... you really think I want you to be my baby sitter?" I had glared at her as I dragged her back to where Anko was standing and since then had a firm grip on the little brat so she didn't try and slip away.

Anko, we soon found out, lived in an old grey apartment building near downtown._ Or what Diji informed me was downtown... ..._

Her twelth floor apartment was small, but fairly clean with minamal little clutter. In fact Anko barley had any furnishings or decorations at all, a narrow hallway led into an open living room with a floor-to-ceiling, westward facing window and small balcony.

The front room had a small sofa and TV but little else except for a wall hanging embroidered with brightly coloured swirly designs, out of place with the minimalistic theme of the rest of the place. Anko turned on the TV gave Diji the remote and told her to sit and watch television while she figured out what she was going to feed us.

I glanced out the window at the darkening sky noticing for the first time how late it was. Following Anko back down the hallway and into the kitchen I offered to help prepare some food, she gives me a croocked smile and pulls out some instant soup packets. "No need Tenteki, already ready." As the water boils we can hear Diji in the other room giggling at some show on TV, "Why did you accept the offer to take care of her?" Anko asks seemingly puzzled to why a foreigner would offer help to the same kid who got her arrested. I am slightly taken aback when I realize I don't have a straight answer, when I think that it is just a guilty conscious for turning her in I know it's not true. When I saw her crying and she told me about her sister dying, something in me had stirred. When I look at her face now I see my own younger sister reflected in her stubbornness and personality. _Probably the real reason I didn't say no is that I already think of her as my own sister... from far away and long long ago._

I didn't realize I had said my thoughts out loud until I looked up to see a hint of sympathy on Anko's face. I blush that I was so stupidly open with someone I barely know,_ And technically isn't real. _"It's not like my sister died or anything so it's stupid for me to think of Diji that way anyway... she's just a street rat that I got stuck with because of a brief lack of judgement." I frown and Anko gives me a shove turning to the now-boiling water, "Better get over your softheartedness, Tentiki." she advises as she pours the hot water into the soup bowls. She brushes by me and I follow her into the darkened living room. Putting the soup down on a low table she snaps on a light and kneels down to eat. Diji and I follow suit and we eat in silence, both Diji and I thankful to have the warm, if strange tasting, sweet bean soup fill us up.

After we eat Anko brings us some blankets and pillows so we can sleep on the couches. She puts away the dishes and Diji and I each claim a couch. With words I can't even understand she's talking so fast, Diji convinces me into the smaller of the two sofas and, to tired to argue, end up scrunched up on a double-seat with the thinnest of the two pillows and the wafer thin-blanket. Anko stifles a laugh when she sees our arrangement but doesn't interfere, and after wishing us _Oyasumi_, Good night, heads up a flight of stairs to her bedroom. As sleep creeps over my eyes a nagging thought demands to answered before I'm allowed to slumber, "Hey Diji?" I ask in a whisper, hoping she's still awake. A muffled "Un..." comes in confirmation from her direction. "Hey Diji, what does Tenteki mean anyway?" A muffled snicker comes from the inky dark, "You baka," Diji whispers back, "It means drip... like bratty, annoying, little..." "I get it." I interrupt her rolling my eyes.

I drift off satisfied to have confirmed that, yes, Anko was indeed fairly rude.

**BN: Good goshnick! Save me from this torent of work! T^T **

**Just kidding ~Wydra, just kidding…. ^.^U So… This chapter wasn't that bad… but defeintly lacking in the 'humor' area, humor is what makes people laugh ~Wydra, in case you didn't kno-… *Bopping sound is promptly heard, along with a weak 'ow'* *Rubs head* **_**Anywho**_**, I guess I'll see you next time, unless ~Wydra needs someone to make 'whisker', 'whisper' and the like… -.-U**

**~MashumelloKage!**

**(1) …. Wow ~Wydra, that's… epic…. As epic as a bunch of pink rhino's dancing the hoky poky on the front lawn while some random dude explodes a nearby beaver dam…. *Rereads what I wrote* Well that is pretty epic, please read again, this time omitting the 'some random dude exploding the nearby beaver dam' part! ^.^**


	6. Rokusix

Chapter Roku:

NaruSan-EraNi-AniIchi

Written by: Wydra

and Beta by: MashumelloKage

* * *

**Legend:**

_My thoughts,_

_^Other peoples thoughts^_

_**~Mindspeaking to my dragon~**_

_**^my dragon speaking to me^**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Inheritance or Animorphs or anything related or concerning them, I do own Tori and Istalri

* * *

The next day goes by in a blur, Anko wakes us at an unearthly hour (it was still dark out!) and gives us Dango for breakfast. Diji was ecstatic but the sweet donut-like balls filled with red bean paste didn't seem very breakfast-like to me... and I honestly didn't like them that much anyway. After giving Diji the remote and locking her into the apartment to keep her out of trouble, Anko took me to the Konoha Council to be accepted into the Hidden Leaf.

After an anonymous vote, I was accepted into Konoha as a member. I was required to sign some serious looking papers that glowed with chakra, Anko later informed me it was binding in a very realistic sense and that if I were to ever violate the contract of secrecy, the Hokage and the entire council would immediately be made aware. Oh, and I would be involuntarily knocked unconscious... with a fair amount of pain and a brand that reads 'traitor' would appear on my forehead. _Niiiccee... ._

After a quick Ramen lunch we checked back in with Diji, thankfully sound asleep on the couch, and then went to sign me up for the Academy and find an apartment.

Once I was registered at the Academy, sadly with kids half my age yet probably still more ninja smart than me... -.-, we found a nice and very cheap apartment above a sewing shop owned by a lady named Shomei (which means illumination in Japanese). Shomei was a very sweet land lady, offering to supply me with ninja clothes for a reduced rate and giving me some tips on where to find cheap furniture and other necessities. Once the contract is signed we head back to Anko's apartment just as the sun starts to set.

Returning to Ankos to get Diji we crack open the door to see if Diji is still sleeping. Everything is perfectly in order... but Diji is nowhere is sight. Opening the door further suddenly a water ballon falls from above the door and drenches both of us in neon paint that changes colour... rapidly changing, hot pink, lime green and a repulsive red orange colour that reminds me of rotten tangerines... -.-U "Diji!" I yell wiping the chakra imbued paint out of my eyes and marching into the apartment only to slip on the rigged rug and fall face first into a tray of melted marshmallows and caramel.

_Freak!_ I think loudly, "Well." Anko says clapping her hands to together with a sadistic grin, "I think this is a perfect opportunity for you to practice your trap detection and avoidance skills, very important if you want to be a ninja." With that she steps over me and walks down the hall, careful to step over the lines of thread that crisscross the floor. With a snarl I pick myself up and continue through the hallway...

-Half and hour later-

After being bombarded by pinecones, assaulted by cling-wrap and a hairdryer as well as having coconut shavings sprinkled on my hair by squirrels... _Fish-cakes, Kakashi was right about squirrels, they're evil I tell you. EVIL! _I finally arrive in the living room to find Anko and Diji sitting on the couch snacking on Dango and giggling at my deranged appearance.

"I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed you didn't see the squirrels coming, I thought the tires and ropes were a bit obvious. I guess I have a lot more work to do with you than I thought." Anko contemplated. My right eye twitched slightly as I read Diji's very satisfied thoughts. "You were in on this?" I ask Anko, one finger pointed at her accusingly.

"No. But it was funny." she replies cocking her head and smiling crookedly.

Diji looks to Anko and grins from ear to ear happy to have someone there to witness and appreciate her art of pranking.

"Arrggghhh!" I say throwing my hands in the air and unintentionally growing cougar ears in my irritation and cocking them to the side exasperated. Diji of course brightens up when she see my cute kitty ears but right away knows better than to approach me... for the moment at least. "I'm having a shower." I state, heading for the bathroom with my feet making sticky sounds as I walk, my pack slung over my shoulder.

A hot shower and a clean set of clothes later and my spirits have raised considerably, although my hair is still a bit clumpy and I smell like some sort of candy. Diji's face falls as I come out of the bathroom without cougar ears but is smart enough to stay quiet and avoid eye contact, I'm still very peeved at her... and Anko for that matter. After a dinner of really good sushi, I grab the larger couch, the better blanket and softer pillow glaring at Diji and daring her to challenge me. Stretching out I turn over, close my eyes and wish them both "Oyasumi". I quickly fall asleep exhausted from the weirded-out day.

-Next Morning-

Anko grabs my shoulder and I spring up still half dreaming that I'm under enemy attack. I crouch, grow ears, claws and eyes better suited to the half light of early morning and spread my consciousness ready to anticipate an enemies moves and fight. I quickly realize that Diji is staring at me like I've grown another head, and is also eyeing my cat ears longingly, and Anko has a slightly surprised look on her face. Her thoughts, although fleeting, are approving. Though she is troubled by my aggressive reaction.

Blushing a really deep red I apologize and pick up my pack to go change in the bathroom. Anko stops me with her arm and shoves a plain white kimono style T-shirt, white half-pants and a burgundy red obi. "What..?" I ask and she just gives me a smile. "You think I'd let you go to the academy in your raggedy old clothes?" My stupid blush deepens as I realize that I've been wearing the same clothes for over a week... and they were very frayed. I smile meekly thanking Anko and then hurry to change in the bathroom.

Once dressed I pause looking at myself in the mirror. A short bob of highlighted brown hair, flares out just below my ears and frames my angular face. My fingers absently trace the ever-so-faint scar that reaches the bottom of my lip and disappears beneath my chin, credit to a near encounter with a grumpy red dragon... Who had a very literal 'thorn-in-the-side' type attitude.

Absently staring at my face recimissing, I realize that the animation, while losing much of the finer details of my appearance, had picked out and emphasized personality defining quirks, that before I had perhaps overlooked. Apart from the faint claw marks along my jaw and down my chin, my eyes were warm brown, but more shadowed and lidded than they would have been before, this gave my eyes a slight look of mistrust. Sadly the reflection was quite accurate, due both to my knowledge of current and future events, my telepathic capabilities and the fact that the whole situation, _Despite 'this situation' going on for 5 YEARS!_, still felt surreal.

I flinch when Diji starts banging loudly on the door disrupting my melancholic thoughts and bringing me back to 'reality'. "What are you doing in there? Hurry up so other people can use the freaking bathroom!" Sighing I open the door and Diji falls face first losing her balance with one fist raised about to hammer the door again.

Anko laughs when she sees the clumsy bow I've twisted my obi into. Undoing it she reties it and shows me how to do an easy knot with the wide fabric. Looking in the mirror the small brown-eyed girl smiles back, _Heck with nostalgia, philosophizing isn't going to do me any good now. Might as well embrace and enjoy this new ninja-life.^.^_

I don my pack and put on a pair of ninja shoes Anko hands to me, a pair she must've bought yesterday when she got my burgundy and white outfit. Sadly they were the standard ninja blue and didn't really match the rest of my outfit... _Oh well_. Thanking Anko again we both head for the door when I stopped and turned on Diji, "Do anything stupid again and... I'll get you back... somehow..." .U Having not really thought through what I was planning on saying, I'm forced to leave unsatisfied with my threat and the image of Diji's cocky grin etched in my head as I stalk away rolling my eyes.

We get outside the building and Anko heads off to submit a mission report or something, leaving me to find my way back to the Academy by myself. _Left or right? Ekk I'm already lost! ._


	7. Sebanseven

Chapter Seban:

NaruSan-EraNi-AniIchi

Written by: Wydra

and Beta by: MashumelloKage

* * *

**Legend:**

_My thoughts,_

_^Other peoples thoughts^_

_**~Mindspeaking to my dragon~**_

_**^my dragon speaking to me^**_

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Inheritance or Animorphs or anything related or concerning them, I do own Tori and Istalri

* * *

-hour latter-

I started heading off in the direction 'I thought' was toward the academy but now I've been walking in circles for... waaayy too long. I close my eyes and try to remember exactly how Anko and I got home the other day. Snapping them open determinedly I am about to start walking when a voice stops me, "Would you like some help?" I sigh knowing I obviously look 'lost' and turn to resignedly receive help. Just as I open my mouth to accept I realize exactly who I'm talking to.

"Ka-kabuto." I say hesitantly, cursing my luck for running into this 'spy' once again. I shift nervously from foot to foot, furiously trying to conceal my turbulent thoughts, _Freak! _I think rapidly trying to recall everything I read about him in the manga, _He was in Konoha for a couple years gathering intel on Konoha and it's ninja. He betrays everyone, is a sadistic creep who likes to experiment on people and keeps a scroll of dead bodies with him to use as a replacement. ... Why the heck was I a stupid fangirl? . _

Kabuto gives me a warm smile and rubs the back of his head, "I guess we've kinda met before." he says sensing my unease, "You were using the transformation justsu to look like that nurse, Kisha, back at the hospital when you were escaping. Pretty impressive transformation technique considering the Jonin guarding you didn't even notice." Although his demeanor doesn't change I sense another undercurrent in his thoughts, he was also implying that he didn't notice it either...

"Uh.. yeah, thanks. Guess it's not really a normal type of um.. jutsu so they didn't recognize it." I say trying to make myself look normaler and not stick out like a sore thumb. Special talents were not something you really wanted to advertise in a ninja village, especially around someone who scouted out prospective Sound-nins.

"Anyway uh, do you know where the Academy is?" I ask trying to change the subject, "Sure thing. This way." he says, motioning for me to follow him. I comply grudgingly, I would perfer to spend the least amount of time as possible with Kabuto and other main characters but also didn't want to be rude... plus... _Yay I get to spend time with Kabuto-sama!_ I think as my inner fangirl resurfaces_,_ grinning from ear to ear mentally, and than bonking my inner self for being so stupid... _Well at least I haven't completely changed from the naive anime-freak I was before getting mixed up in this mess of dimensions... o_

I have to hurry to catch up and fall in step with Kabuto as he leads me through the village. "So." he says giving me another smile and forcing me to mentally refrain the absurd fangirl from grinning like a cheshire cat, "What kind of transformation jutsu do you specialize in then, if it's not the normal Henge no Jutsu?" I hesitate not wanting to expose all my cool... *cough*, 'different' techniques and trying to think of how I can describe morphing to a ninja.

"Well..." I start, "The version I use is simpler, I don't know if it uses chakra, I've never tested it, but I have more restrictions than normal Henge. The reason the Jonins didn't realize I was someone else is because, essentially, when in morph, I am the person, down the the actual molecular structure and DNA."

"I wonder if..." I stop, realizing that I was thinking out loud... _Shoot!_ I think glad I had stopped my sentence short, _I was about to wonder out loud whether the two-hour limit would still apply in this dimension. Sure as heck don't want my enemy to know that kind of information. _Kabuto is about to ask why I cut myself off, I have sadly ended up piquing his interest in my abilities rather than dissuade him, but thankfully I spot the Academy around the corner and, waving goodbye and Arigato, I take off sprinting for the large double doors before he can think of any more annoying questions. _Well at least he didn't ask why I'm going to the academy...*blush* . *sigh* _

Getting lost inside the actual building I barley have time to slide into an empty seat at the back of the class before the bell rings. Probably a good thing too because only a few of the eight and nine year olds turn to give my quizzical stares, rather than a class of twenty barraging me with questions.

I jerk when a Jonin appears at the front of the room in a poof of smoke. I blink a few times and then try to pay attention as the Jonin starts to rattle off, explaining how he did the body-flicker technique, how the technique worked, which hand signs he used and the different variations of body-flicker there are, such as sand-flicker, leaf-flicker and a whole list of others... I found myself quite intrigued and get excited when we get to try it out for ourselves.

We are all asked to stand up and practice the hand signs, then try and use chakra to complete the jutsu. It seemed like a pretty advanced jutsu for these little kids to be learning, but they all seemed to catch on pretty quickly while I was fumbling and trying to get the hand signs right. After all the other kids in the class had managed to successfully create a poof of smoke that encompassed their whole body and disguise their rapid movement to another location, I still couldn't get my 'chakra' or energy to work right.

Finally the sensi came over and tried to help me figure out what was wrong, apparently I wasn't focusing my chakra into my hand seals properly. Trying again, this time concentrating more on my fingers rather than just my entire hand, I slowly did the hand signs and smoke enveloped me as I darted to the other side of the room in a blur._ YES!_ I shouted inwardly, not able to conceal my goofy, self-satisfied grin.

Then I realized the other kids in the class were yelling and coughing and the sensi was asking someone to open a window. _Opps_. I thought, realizing I had filled the entire room with billowing white smoke.

Blushing I help open windows and fan the smoke out with sheets of paper. Once the smoke has cleared the teacher gave me an encouraging smile and quietly told me I should practice some chakra control techniques in my spare time. I blushed as the rest of the kids giggled there thoughts clearly resonating the same thought, _I can't beleive she can't performa such basic jutsus!_ I just roll my eyes and smile it off, _Whatever, at least I can only go up! *wavering smile*_

The rest of the classes went more smoothly, although I took a lot more notes than the other children and had to resort to reading my classmates and even my sensi's mind during the history and Chakra theory classes. I also found out that although I thought I was in pretty good shape, I had after all been either on-the-run, or fighting the last couple years of my life, but these ninja took fitness to a whole new level.

The irritating eight and nine year olds could run 20 laps on the track and then sprint the next five, and then do push ups and jumping jacks. Although I really tried hard to do as much as I could without 'cheating', by lap 10 I was tired of the kids passing me while I was gasping for breath. I covertly morphed my cramping thighs and calves to cougar muscles so I could at least keep up with the stragglers of their bunch. I also had to morph to do more than three push ups.

Thankfully the bootcamp training was the last of my classes for the day. After the sensi took me aside, yet again, and suggested I did some homework of my own, I just nodded my weary head and left the academy heading for the library that my history sensi had given directions to. Spending an hour scrounging for the few books I could use that were in English, and grabbing a few books aimed at teaching young children their alphabets, I checked them out and put them in my pack before heading back to town for my last errand of the day.

The gym sensi had told me that tomorrow we would be practicing weapons training and as of yet I was still short of... all basic ninja weapons. One of the kids in my class, a little brown-eyed girl with long braids, had come up to me and kindly told me that her dad ran a weapons shop close to the academy. Heading there I stop outside and peer into the window. The displays are an assortment of weapons, from steel cords laced with sharp knives, to samurai swords intricately embellished and obviously for display only. Frowning and wondering if they have the really basic, and hopefully cheap, supplies of shurkins, kunai and who knows what else inside, I open the door and enter the well-lit interior.

A bell rings as the door swings open and then shut, but I can't see a shopkeeper anywhere in the store. I wander around scanning the cluttered walls of sharp pointy objects for something I think I can use. Near the back of the store a few glass cases stand apart displaying some of the more exquisite pieces. Curious I look through them and my eyes fall on a strangely shaped sword in a case by itself. Two blades, one three quarters the length of the other, curve outward then inward then out again from a normal Japanese style hilt with a round hand guard decorated with faintly painted intricate flames. The blades themselves glint with a slight orange hue and are engraved with faint swirls. As my eyes move back down the sword to the red silk wrapped handle, a quiet voice speaks from my right, "Amazing... The brilliance of the blade... the design, I helped my dad with with it, and it's for sure my favorite in the entire shop."

Tenten turns to me, "But I'm assuming your not here to buy such a specialized piece, am I right?" I blush and nod glancing around the shop again. "Yeah.. um I'm not really sure what I need to get... I'm buying for..." I stop, my pride not wanting to admit I'm here to buy my first set of ninja weapons and hence imply I'm pretty new to the whole 'ninja' thing, "my sister who just started at the academy." I say quickly, hoping she can direct me to what I need and get out of here before I embarrass myself once again today.

"Sure," she says smiling and walking to the far wall, "We keep most of the basic stuff in the back to make room for everything else, but we have a couple of samples for sizing and such up here." Reaching up she pulls out five kunai's all roughly the same size but with slightly varying handle lengths. "So your sisters hand's, how big are they? This is a lighter style," She explains brandishing one of the samples with a flourish, "with a smaller handle and duller blade, perfect for a young kid." she says handing me the smallest of the group. It's so small that my hand doesn't fit.

My blush deepens as I realize that either I have to admit the 'beginner' supplies are for me or I'm leaving the shop with child sized weapons. _Who knew they had different sizes of kunais..._

"Um actually, *sigh* the new weapons are for me. I'm a newcomer here and I just started learning the ninja arts at the academy today. Sorry." Although Tenten looks puzzled and surprised at first she quickly recovers with a wry grin, "No problem, but I assume you'd like some more useful weapons." she chides.

I nod thankfully and she goes about picking out kunai's, shurkins and a few other odds and ends she says I'll need, getting me to hold them in different positions to make sure they fit my hand, posture and techniques. She explains as she goes along about the different weapons and fighting styles, and when I comment or ask questions she brightens up and rattles on enthusiastically. Finally I make it to the counter with a heap of shiny pointy objects and Tenten rings them through.

"Have you ever used any of these?" she asks quizzically as I fumble with the shurkins trying to put them in their new holder.

"Uhhh...no." I say finally getting them to all fit and snapping the pouch closed.

"I have a target out back if you want to try." she says, "I can also give you some tips for your weapons session tomorrow if you like." she adds when I pause to consider her offer.

"Waaiiittt... How did you know...?"

"My sister is in the same class as you and told me a girl your age might be stopping at the shop today." She says grinning while the embarrassed and ashamed look to which I was becoming irritatingly accustomed to, descended on my face as I realize she knew I was lying about buying stuff for my sister all along.

"Sorry." I say again lamely, but she just waves me off.

"Whatever, as long as you work hard you'll become a Kunichwa yet. So would you like me to give you some pointers?"

After a couple of tries and tons of advice later I manage to hit the target without falling short five meters, or missing and hitting the wooden fence behind the target. "You're a fast learner." Tenten commends me, _Weelll being able to read minds and see mental images goes a long way.._. I think, non-the-less happy with my progress.

Tenten mentions she had to get back to minding her dad's store and I thank her as I leave, "Oh by the way," she says as I open the door, "If you like you can train with me, it's nice to have a girl my age around." she says grinning ear-to-ear.

However I hesitate, not wanting: A to make any friends in a foreign dimension I plan on escaping and B because I can't help but worry that she means her whole team is training or something... I've already made a fool of myself in front of enough people lately and I didn't feel like dealing with rude and blunt Neji or over energetic Lee.

Before I can answer the door I've been holding open is wretched from my grip as Anko pushes past me and enthusiastically says I'll be there to train. Tenten gives me another astonished look and Anko drives me out of the shop and down to a Dango shop for dinner before I can even open my mouth to protest.

"What the heck?" I demand as Anko orders herself some food.

"What?" she says with an anything but innocent expression.

"Now I have to go make a fool of myself in front of yet more people, like... like trying to hit a target within arms reach and MISS!" I say angrily.

Anko rolls her eyes and stuffs a dango in her mouth before she deigns to answer me, "A, I doubt Tenten would make you train with her other teammates, she's a nice kid and is happy to have another girl around to train with, and B, as one off the best Tai weapon's users around your pretty privileged to be able to train with and learn from her. Plus then I don't have to bother with extra training with you. And C, as your sensi you don't get a choice in matters like this anyway." with that she gets up and walks away, leaving me to glare at her back. Not that I didn't appreciate and look forward to training with Tenten, but Anko was going to start getting on my nerves soon with her yeahyeahyeah attitude. I sigh and look up searching for answers in the starlit sky, _Maybe I'm just overreacting because I haven't had anyone to rely on or make decisions for me in a long while. _I contemplate before leaving the dango place, not bothering to eat any sweets, heading back to my apartment to get some rest and study before I have to face another day of what will probably end in humiliation.

* * *

AN: Sooo I haven't updated in almost a year, partly because I got out of it, partly because the computer with these two chapters died on me(-.-U ) and partly because I'm not sure if anyone actually reads/enjoys these. Anway I have now posted these two chapters(written last Febuary most probably) and I have started an eighth chapter but I am neither sure how far along I will get with it nor if I will end up posting it. XP(I've also half-halfheartedly started the 'middle' of the story aka when Tori is in Eragon, [why I can't start at the beginning is beyond me, too boring maybe? O.o] but I haven't gotten very far on that one/part XDD)

I really do appreciate constructive criticism but please keep in mind that I personally don't take this story very personally as it is only a FanFiction and written for the pure enjoyment of imagining it myself and (hopefully .) share that idea/imagination with others. ;D So please no flaming as I will either ignore you or reply with much indignation and (again hopefully) witty logic. ^.^

So yeah, if you like what I write THANK YOU SO MUCH! XD and if not, I am truly sorry I don't meet your expectations. :'( (don't worry I'll get over it ;D lol ^.^)


	8. Hachieight

Chapter Eight/Hachi:

The next day goes pretty much like the last, waking up at a ridiculous hour, rushing to get to my classes and struggling to keep up with the rest of the kids as we go through rather complicated and advanced ninja training. The only redeeming quality being the extra knowledge I went in knowing, after spending most of the night researching all the subjects my teachers had suggested I take a look at.

Today however was different in that I finished at noon, an exemption that had been specially made for me so I could start my training with Anko and my two new team members in the afternoons.

The sun was glaring down at me as I headed for the line of trees that marked the beginning of the training grounds where we were due to meet. I cast a quick sweep around the area with my mind before I morphed into a cougar, _Hopefully this will make tree trekking easier._ I thought as I leaped into the trees using my powerful hind legs to propel me from branch to branch. _A real ninja would probably just use chakra... oh well it would take me too long to figure out how to do it right anyway._

By the time fifteen minutes had gone by and still no sign of the clearing we were to train in, and no sign of either Anko or any other humans for that matter, I had begun to worry I was lost... again. Demorphing I tried to sense Anko's mind to get a bearing... faintly off to my right I could feel her, as well as what must be my other two teammates. I glanced at my watch, they were far enough away that if I didn't hurry I'd be late..._ Frap... -.-#_

Trees rushed by, my claws digging into the bark before quickly retracting as I push off. The cat's brain was a whirlwind of motion as it took in all the senses of the forest. A breeze smelling of rabbit, the cawing of a crow and twittering of birds, all so distinct and loud. Shaking my head I tried to balance out my human thoughts with the instincts of the cat, I had found this to be an effective way of sensing danger while at the same time... staying, human.

The trees finally began to thin and up ahead I could see the sunlight flooding a clearing..._hopefully the clearing..._

_~Sorry I'm la-wha!~ _I mind-speak as I land in the clearing only having to leap straight up again to avoid a kunai thrown straight for me.

~_What the HECK!~_ I yell at one of the two teenage boys standing next to Anko, the one already pulling out yet another sharp edged object to throw at me.

"Hey!" Anko said cuffing the boy over the back of the head, "That's your new teammate!"

Both boys looked at each other surprise on their faces, "Uh.." hesitates one, "Um, a cat... is our teammate?" he asks giving me a rather doubtful look over.

Anko rolls her eyes and nods to me, "No." her simple answer sending both relief and confusion over the faces of the two boys.

I begin to demorph aiming to do it as quickly and not-disturbing looking as possible, hard to do when your body goes from a fur covered four-legged feline to an upright, bare-skinned(thankfully clothed) humanoid.

The faces of the boys however, show that it is still a strange transformation despite my efforts at control and elegance... "Ew." the tallest boy, and the one who threw the kunai at me, comments as my face seems to liquefy and reshape, my ears shrink and slide down my scalp, and are quickly covered by the lengthening hair on my head. As I finish changing and straighten up, Anko goes straight into introductions, "Tori, this is Inusuka Kuro, and Kamaki Natsuma. Kuro, Nat, this is Hayes Tori. Well now you've met-" a soft bark comes from behind Kuro, "Oh, and this is Shiro, Kuro's nindog partner." I nodded to the fluffy white head that peaked from behind Kuro. _~Hi! ^.^~_ I thought-spoke to the little dog, rising a low surprised growl from the dog and a piercing glare from Kuro, "I don't know what you did, but she says stop." Kuro spat at me. Taken aback by the hostile reaction, I whisper "Sorry." and stare at the ground.

"With that all over with," Anko continues on, glancing between us, "the three of you have your first training challenge. I want to see an example of your abilities and how well you can slap together your teamwork on short notice."

With that she turned and Kamororied to the opposite side of the field, "Your challenge is to transverse this field and touch this post," she explained, placing a hand on a waist high log half-buried in the ground.

"Thats...it?" Kuro looked at Anko with an exasperated look on his face, "Lets get this stupid thing over with."

"Um...Kuro..." said Natsuma giving the field a wary glance, "She seems rather confidant."

Kuro hesitated mid-stride, "Over confidant, she's obviously underestimating us" Kuro is about to put his foot down on the grass when I suddenly notice that the minute life forms that had seconds ago been beneath his feet, had abruptly vanished, "Wait!" I shout, grabbing the boy by the arm and yanking him backwards just as an eruption of dirt explodes right where his foot had been.

"What the H %* do you think your doing!" Kuro yells at me shoving me away and scrambling back from the still raining debris.

"L-land mines?" Natsuma stares wide eyed at the small crater left by the explosive. Kuro would have easily lost his leg had he put all of his weight there.

Kuro for his part was scanning the field with a whole new appreciation. "Your welcome." I murmur as he gets up and starts conversing with Natsuma in a low voice. "Between Shiro and I we can probably smell any more of those, you keep an eye on 'sensei' and try and sense if she has any more surprises coming up."

"Um.." I interrupt, "I might be helpful, I was able to figure out about the explosive by sensing the microorganisms in the soil the first time... but maybe I can figure out a better way..." Kuro gave me a sour look, "Shut up and stay out of this. Once we find a path through, follow us carefully. I don't want to be picking up your 'pieces' when you blow yourself up." with that he turns back to Nat... _What a bloody idiot! He didn't hear a word of what I said... oh yeah like sensing microorganisms isn't that impressive... ok maybe not but still, teamwork requires knowing every ones skills and utilizing them... argh! _

"-don't you think we should at least find out what To-tori-san is capable of?" I hear Nat comment to Kuro glancing at me. "Like that _girl _gonna be of any help, what is she gonna go all cat and leap across the field?" Kuro snides over his shoulder at me, "Or maybe the 'worms' are gonna tell her where the bombs are. You're such a liar." With that he whistles at Shiro and the duo begins sniffing their way forward. Natsuma hangs back with an apologetic look on his face, "S-sorry but you'd better just follow us like he said, he really does know what he's doing." and with that he follows along behind the dog and master.

"Yeah right." I mutter standing and surveying the field, I briefly brush Anko's mind but as I suspected she's carefully guarded. _Alright, fine. _Deciding to be a smart aleck and just breeze through I concentrate on an osprey, my favorite bird, and feel myself shrink. Bones pop and reverse, my fingers elongate and within moments I am once again a brown and white creature of the sky. Kuro, Nat and Shiro have all stopped to look back at me, once again Kuro doesn't bother to hide his disgust at my awkward transformation while Natsuma just frowns in concern.

Ignoring them I spread my wings and launch myself into the air, I don't go too far up but rather skim about five feet off the ground. I'm about halfway across when a light tug at one of my wing feathers catches my attention, I glimpse a thin limp wire just as Nat lets out a cry, "Hey, watch out-!" I barley manage to pitch myself forward to avoid the kunai that whistles over my head taking the ends of a few of my head feathers with it.

I tumble out of control with the ground rushing up at me, I hit hard but manage to break my fall with my right wing. I hear it snap just before a flash of pain sears up my arm. _Crap _I think as I lay there in a crumpled heap, my wing, without-a -doubt, broken.

"So much for that idea." Kuro mocks me laughing. _What is his freaking problem?! ...At least I didn't hit a mine..._ I think hopping to my feet and starting to demorph, no point in staying in the form of a bird with a broken wing.

However I'm still half bird-woman when the ground underneath me starts shaking, keeping upright is futile as with my legs in the process of reversing joints, can't support my weight. I fall to the ground and thankfully finish back in my own skin(and clothes) just as the grass begins to split underneath me.

I scramble backward but too slow as the dirt pitches and heaves and suddenly I'm momentarily suspended above a deep hole with razor sharp spikes lining the bottom, having managed to grab a handful of grass, I dig my fingers into the lip of the abyss.

My fragile hold on the loose soil begins to slip when a hand reaches down and pulls me upward. Kuro face greets me as he hauls me out of the pit and flops me unceremoniously unto the ground face first. "I suggest you start listening." he spits at me before making his was around the trap with Shiro and continuing his sniffing.

A couple of tears slip their way out and I roll my eyes at my own pitifulness... and embarrassment. I notice Natsuma's feet and see him still standing in front me holding out a hand. "Here," he says helping me up as I try and rub dirt off my face. Unexpectedly I feel all my shame and nervousness, and awkwardness seem to melt away and a sense calmness sweeps over and replaces them.

Immediately I recoil, alarmed by the sudden mood swing and instantly wary of a trap. Nat blushes and lets go of my hand, "Hey sorry I didn't mean to make you angry, my clans kekkei genkai allows me to influence emotions. I was-I was just trying to make you feel better." he says shuffling his feet and hurrying by me to catch up with Kuro.

"uhhh..."_~Thanks! ^.^~_ I call out with my mind after him, causing him to start and stare back at me with wide eyes, "What the-"_ ~You can influence emotions... I can talk in your head. XP I assume this is how you were able to predict traps before, reading Anko-sensei's emotions and being able to tell when we were about to activate a trap?~ _Natsuma nodded hesitantly.

"Can you read my thoughts?" Nat asked as I caught up with the two boys and carefully followed behind them in step.

"If I wanted to I could, though I avoid reading others peoples mind before asking permission... and blocking isn't too hard to do. I can't tell you what Anko's thinking right now." Natsuma blushed again and frowned. "It's not invading privacy anymore than knowing how someones feeling." I pointed out. He answered with a shrug, "I suppose.."

We continued on for a few more minutes in silence, trusting Kuro and Shiro's nose to lead us around the mines and traps, though I kept my mind aware of the life beneath the ground in front of us in case they missed something.

Soon however we were forced to stop, "What is it?" Natsuma asked. Kuro was on all fours now and to be honest looked rather ridicules snuffling in a semicircle along with Shiro, "It's a dead end..." he explains straightening up frowning. We all look up at Anko and the post only ten feet away, "You thought it was going to be that easy?" she asks surprised, "Think again gaki's."

Kuro spat at her in contempt, this guy certainly had anger issues, and then whirled back and carefully maneuvered his way between Nat and I in order to try and retrace our steps for a better route.

Anko's exasperated sigh caused him to flinch, freeze and then slowly turn toward her again.

"That is the only route you know..." she pointed out obviously getting bored now, "No point in wasting time pacing back and forth now is there?" All of us shared the same frown as we tried to figure out how to continue on.

"Kuro," I asked, "What smell are you going by? Anko-sensei's scent or the explosives?"

"Sensei's baka, otherwise I'd miss the pit traps and stuff."

"...maybe she planted false ones?" I asked apprehensibly.

"Yeah ok so you try one of the three spots and we'll watch to see if you blow up or fall into a trap then." I rolled my eyes and set my face, as long as could morph back in time...and didn't loss my head or anything. I looked at where Shiro and Kuro had come to a stop, closing my eyes and analyzing the ground beneath. There was actually a lot of life in the dirt but most were so simplistic they were of no help, faint stars of light represented each of their lives in my minds eye. A yawning underground cavern, devoid of life was obviously a pit trap, _Perhaps if we triggered it we'd be able to get around it..._

"There." I said pointed to the left most section and turning to the two boys behind me, "This one is most likely a pit trap, it's devoid of normal dirt organisms... pretty much any organisms actually, so maybe if we trigger it we can devise a way to get across."

While Natsuma seemed to be considering it, Kuro obnoxiously clapped, "Fabulous little worm-talker, now once we _do_ trigger it, if there is a way to do it safely, how to prepose we are going to get across? Build a bridge?"

Non-the-less he proceeded to push past me...again, and bent down to sniff the left section. "Well it doesn't 'smell' like explosives... Nat? Any ideas?"

"Triggering it could be as easy as throwing something weighted onto the ground on top, T-tori-san do you have any idea how wide the trap is?"

"Umm..." I close my eyes and study the life lights but it's extremely hard to place any sort of relevant distance, especially as most of them are moving. "Sorry," I say opening my eyes again, "Not really."

"Course not." Kuro coughs under his breath and this time Natsumi gives him an annoyed look.

"Well even without knowing how big it is I would say it's still worth triggering and trying to cross as we don't really know what the other two traps are anyway." Kuro surmised.

"If what Anko-sensei told us is true." I comment giving the women a suspicious glance, to which she just shrugs and smiles.

Decided, Nat pulls out a kunai and throws it, hitting the approximation of the center of the trap square on. Upon impact the ground crumples inward creating another deep chasm filled with spikes. Once the dust has settled Kuro tentatively takes a step forward peering down into the pit. "So, now what?" he asks turning back to me. Nat and I stiffen and spin to our right as a tendril of Anko's apprehension escapes the barrier of her mind, our only warning as the ground beneath our feet becomes unsteady, and then disappears downward...


End file.
